


Nanny Ashtoreth is soft

by Mothfluff



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Ineffable husbands - Fandom
Genre: Crowley with kids is the best ok, Drabble, Fluff, Gen, Other, Short, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 01:36:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20267899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mothfluff/pseuds/Mothfluff
Summary: Nanny Ashtoreth is soft.She has to be, because she is Crowley with a child, and there’s never been anything as soft as Crowley with a child.Brother Francis loves it, because he is Aziraphale, and there’s never been anything Aziraphale has loved more than seeing Crowley as he should be.





	Nanny Ashtoreth is soft

Nanny Ashtoreth is soft.

She has to be, because she is Crowley with a child, and there’s never been anything as soft as Crowley with a child.

Brother Francis loves it, because he is Aziraphale, and there’s never been anything Aziraphale has loved more than seeing Crowley as he should _be._

Soft.

He’s seen him with children before, of course, Crowley is always around the kids when he can. He’s seen him play with kids, heal kids, help kids, save kids in countless forms and interactions. But there was always this resistance, this hesitation.

Demons aren’t _nice_. Demons don’t play with children and laugh about it. Demons don’t heal people. Demons certainly don’t hide a whole group of little humans on an ark to save their lives. 

But Crowley does.

So he has to find excuses. Those children clearly were meant to die by God’s hand, so he’s _obviously_ just going against God, not _helping_ them. That kid he healed is probably going to steal a lot more food now (especially when helped with some demonic miracles to go unnoticed by vendors), and stealing is bad, so mark that one down for some more demon-points. He’s not playing with the kids, he’s play-fighting, and teaching humans war early on is just so evil, isn’t it? He’s being evil, angel, evil with the children, and he won’t hear another word of it.

There are moments where he isn’t. Where he’s just smiling, a little boy with a bruised cheek on his lap, nose still running from the crying earlier, but no child cries when they are with Crowley anymore. A little girl hugged to his side as they stand on the marketplace, waiting for her mum to finally find them and hug her close and thank the stranger for caring for her lost child. But these moments are seconds, barely, and as soon as Crowley notices them, he makes them vanish. Aziraphale has seen it countless times.

Nanny Ashtoreth, though? Nanny Ashtoreth can have these moments. 

Sure, there is the whole ‘guiding the Anti-Christ to evil’ thing that she has to do, but right now he’s a baby and wouldn’t take any of that in anyway, so there’s no harm in holding him close, swaying back and forth, humming a small lullaby as he falls asleep. Maybe holding him longer than necessary when he’s quietly breathing and snuffling in her ear, feeling the warmth on her chest, the soft and chubby legs under her hand, the smell of babypowder and milk and _baby_ in her nose.

And sure, there’s the whole ‘this kid is gonna destroy the world, so maybe don’t get attached’ thing going on, but right now he’s five and has skinned his knee and what kind of nanny would she be if she didn’t blow on it to make it better, and it actually gets better, the bleeding skin healing over within seconds? And what kind of nanny would she be if she pushed him away as he hugs her close, mumbling thank yous through a stuffy nose?

And obviously, there’s the whole ‘you’re only pretending to be this kid’s caretaker to help the dark side win him over’, but that means pretending to be a proper caretaker to convince everyone, and that includes taking care of the damned (literally..) child. That includes singing lullabies, and running through puddles, and helping with baths after, and reading stories that Brother Francis picked out, and wiping paint off of every surface of child after he’s presented her with a colourful picture of ‘the family’ of the three of them. 

Nobody can judge Crowley for doing these things, because they’re what he _has_ to do as a nanny, obviously. Hell can’t say anything against supporting the Anti-Christ. The angel can’t say anything about him being _good_ when it’s just an act.

Nanny Ashtoreth is a nanny, and nannys are soft, so she has to be. So Crowley can be.

And Aziraphale smiles, and understands just why Crowley was so adamant he be the one to play the nanny in this plan of theirs.

(Years later, after armagedoh-no, he also understands why they take so many trips to check up on ‘the _actual_ anti-christ this time, for go-sa-someone’s sake’. Why they must always bring a little gift not just for Adam, but for all of the Them. Why Anathema only prepares tea for herself, Newt and Aziraphale - because she also understands that Crowley is not going to sit down with them for more than a few moments before he’s off with a wooden sword down the fields with the rest of the kids darting around him and trying to slay the demon. It’s not just Nanny Ashtoreth’s turn to be soft now, after everything has ended.)

(Not that she stops, though. Not that Warlock doesn’t get letters and care packages and the odd visit of a magician and his curly-haired assistant on his birthdays. Not that he doesn’t have a number saved in his high-end smartphone he knows he can call at any time of day, even if he’s at the other end of the world, to conjure up a darkly dressed lady with a soft smile on her face within the hour.)


End file.
